Great Lives

Film director Julien Temple on Elizabethan bad boy Christopher Marlowe


Listen Later

Julien Temple, director of The Great Rock n Roll Swindle, Glastonbury and Absolute Beginners, chooses Christopher Marlowe, writer of brilliant plays including Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great. "I'm excited to talk about him," he says, "because I've known him for more than 50 years."

The link? An attempt as a student to summon up Marlowe in his old college cellar room.

Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564 - the same year as Shakespeare. He was a spy, a writer, a counterfeiter .. and he famously died in a bar room brawl in Deptford in 1593. Was it an accident, or was he killed deliberately? Helping us negotiate the mythic moments of Marlowe's life is Professor of Shakespeare studies Emma Smith.

Julien Temple's film credits include The Filth and the Fury, Pandaemonium, Earth Girls are Easy and Joe Strummer: The Futureis Unwritten

The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer in Bristol for BBC Studios is Miles Warde

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Great LivesBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2

4.2

464 ratings


More shows like Great Lives

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,724 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

374 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,037 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,541 Listeners

Witness History by BBC World Service

Witness History

956 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,881 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

609 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

725 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

292 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,832 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,060 Listeners

Desert Island Discs by BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

2,052 Listeners

Profile by BBC Radio 4

Profile

108 Listeners

Last Word by BBC Radio 4

Last Word

48 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

302 Listeners

Front Row by BBC Radio 4

Front Row

133 Listeners

Start the Week by BBC Radio 4

Start the Week

161 Listeners

Bookclub by BBC Radio 4

Bookclub

239 Listeners

Private Passions by BBC Radio 3

Private Passions

44 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,162 Listeners

Cyber Hack by BBC World Service

Cyber Hack

1,639 Listeners

This Cultural Life by BBC Radio 4

This Cultural Life

112 Listeners